Zcash transparent vs shielded: addresses, privacy and mining payouts

Zcash transparent vs shielded comes down to one question: who can read a transaction. Transparent payments work like Bitcoin, so anyone can see the addresses and amounts. Shielded payments hide the sender, the receiver, the amount and the memo instead.

For miners, the difference shapes every reward. On ZProMiners, your block reward reaches a transparent address first. Zcash consensus then makes you shield it before you can spend it.

Zcash transparent vs shielded at a glance

Zcash keeps transparent and shielded funds in separate value pools, and each address type points into one of them. The table sums up the types you will meet as a miner.

Transparent and shielded Zcash address types

Transparent addresses: t1 and t3

Transparent addresses come straight from Bitcoin’s design. A t1 address is P2PKH, so a single key controls it. A t3 address is P2SH, so a script such as a multisig controls it. The Zcash protocol specification defines both prefixes on Mainnet. Every transparent payment shows its addresses and amounts on any block explorer, and every balance is public too.

Sapling addresses: zs1

Sapling addresses start with zs1 and date from the Sapling upgrade of October 2018. A Sapling payment hides the sender, the receiver, the amount and the 512-byte memo from observers. Sapling still works today. However, the protocol specification recommends unified addresses for new applications.

Unified addresses: u1

ZIP 316 defines unified addresses, which start with u1 and bundle several receivers into one string. A unified address can hold one Orchard, one Sapling and one transparent receiver, either P2PKH or P2SH but not both. It must contain at least one shielded receiver, and it has no slot for the legacy Sprout type. The sending wallet must use the most preferred receiver it supports, in the order Orchard, Sapling, transparent.

Orchard and the new Ironwood pool

Orchard is the shielded protocol that arrived with the NU5 upgrade in May 2022. It has no standalone address format, so Orchard receivers only exist inside unified addresses. In May 2026, a security researcher reported a soundness bug in the Orchard circuit, and NU6.2 fixed it in June. Then NU6.3 activated on July 28, 2026, and added the Ironwood pool (ZIP 258). Ironwood uses the same Orchard protocol and the same addresses, and its notes are quantum-recoverable. Since that upgrade, the old Orchard pool accepts no new value. As a result, a payment to an Orchard receiver now lands in Ironwood.

TEX addresses: tex1

A TEX address, defined in ZIP 320, re-encodes a t1 address so that it starts with tex1. It keeps the same key hash, so the funds stay transparent and public. However, it tells the sending wallet to spend transparent inputs only. Some exchanges show TEX deposit addresses because they want to see which transparent address funded a deposit. That way, they can return the money if needed. If you send from shielded funds, a compliant wallet makes two transactions. First it deshields to a fresh transparent address, and then it sends from there to the TEX address.

What observers see in transparent and shielded transactions

The Zcash transparent vs shielded difference is clearest from the outside. For a transparent payment, an observer sees the sending addresses, the receiving addresses, the amounts, the fee and the block. Linked together, those records can expose a whole payment history.

For a fully shielded payment, the observer still sees that a transaction exists, which block holds it and its fee. They can also count its Sapling spends and outputs, or its Orchard and Ironwood actions, although many wallets pad those counts. The addresses, amounts and memos stay encrypted.

Mixed transactions leak more. A shielding transaction (t to z) shows the transparent input and the amount entering the shielded pool, but not the recipient. A deshielding transaction (z to t) hides the source, but it shows the transparent recipient and the amount. Moving value between shielded pools, for example from Sapling to Ironwood, also reveals the amount that crosses. That happens because each transaction publishes the net value entering or leaving each shielded pool, which is also how every node tracks pool balances (ZIP 209).

Viewing keys for shielded Zcash

Shielded does not have to mean hidden from everyone. A viewing key lets you disclose shielded activity without handing over spending power. An incoming viewing key reveals the payments you receive. A full viewing key also reveals what you spend. Neither key can move funds. Unified viewing keys from ZIP 316 bundle the keys for each receiver type, and they start with uview (full) or uivk (incoming). Transparent addresses need no viewing key, because their history is already public. Share a viewing key only with someone you trust, such as an accountant, because they can pass it on.

Moving Zcash between transparent and shielded pools

Shielding moves ZEC from a transparent address into a shielded pool. Deshielding moves it back out. Your wallet builds both as ordinary transactions. Because each crossing exposes its amount, a few habits protect your privacy:

• Shield rewards as they mature, and keep them shielded until you need them.
• Avoid deshielding the same amount soon after you shielded it, since matching amounts link the two steps.
• Let an up-to-date wallet move any old Orchard-pool balance to Ironwood. ZIP 318 suggests splitting that move into standard amounts.

Fees for transparent and shielded transactions

ZIP 317 sets the conventional fee at 5,000 zatoshis per logical action, with a minimum of two actions. A simple transaction therefore costs 10,000 zatoshis, or 0.0001 ZEC. For the transparent part, the count is the larger of inputs and outputs, measured in standard P2PKH sizes. Sapling likewise takes the larger of its spends and outputs, while Orchard and Ironwood count their actions.

The formula treats every pool alike, so shielded transactions cost no more than transparent ones. Miners should still watch input counts. When you shield, each coinbase output becomes one transparent input. At the ZIP 317 rate, sweeping 20 outputs into one shielded output therefore costs about 110,000 zatoshis, or 0.0011 ZEC: 20 logical actions for the inputs plus 2 padded shielded actions.

The rate could fall. A draft proposal would cut the marginal fee to 1,000 zatoshis, and Zebra 6.4.0 already accepts transactions at that rate. Let your wallet set the fee.

Coinbase rules every Zcash miner must know

Two consensus rules govern transparent coinbase outputs, and both still apply in September 2026.

Maturity comes first. A transaction cannot spend a transparent coinbase output from a block less than 100 blocks earlier. At the current 75-second target spacing, that wait lasts about 125 minutes. The proposed NU7 upgrade would switch to 25-second blocks but keep the 100-block rule (ZIP 218). The wait would then shrink to about 42 minutes.

Shielding comes second. A transaction that spends transparent coinbase outputs must have no transparent outputs at all. In practice, you shield the reward first and spend it from the shielded pool later. The current protocol specification still states this rule, and ZIP 213 keeps it for transparent coinbase. Zebra’s current code also rejects such spends on Mainnet, and only test networks can switch the check off.

Why Zcash coinbase rewards start transparent

Until the Heartwood upgrade of July 2020, consensus allowed only transparent coinbase outputs. ZIP 213 then permitted shielded coinbase outputs and exempted them from both rules above. However, it made them public on purpose. Every shielded coinbase output must decrypt with an all-zero outgoing viewing key, so anyone can read its address and amount. Building one also needs a zero-knowledge proof, which adds work whenever a node builds a block template. Transparent outputs skip that cost, and anyone can audit a block’s reward split on an explorer.

For ZProMiners, policy settles the question. The pool supports only direct transparent coinbase payouts, so every reward stays public and auditable on chain. Your reward, or your share of it, goes to your t1 or t3 address in the coinbase of the block. That holds for solo mining, the PPLNS pool and the PROP pool alike. Shielded, unified and TEX addresses therefore do not work as a username. You need no account either, because your t-address is your username.

Practical takeaway: mine transparent, then go shielded

For a miner, Zcash transparent vs shielded is not an either-or choice. You receive transparently, and then you shield:

1. Choose a wallet whose seed you hold, and check that it shows a t1 address and can shield funds.
2. Use that t-address as your username, as the guide on how to start mining explains.
3. Wait 100 blocks for each reward to mature.
4. Shield matured outputs to your wallet’s unified address. Several outputs in one transaction cost less than separate transactions, although each input still adds to the fee.
5. Spend from the shielded balance, and share a viewing key if an accountant needs your history.

Never mine to an exchange deposit address. You do not hold its keys, and the shielding rule binds whoever receives the reward. If that has already happened, read what to do if an exchange rejects your mining deposit. For other questions, the FAQ and the mining calculator are good next stops.